Amam was an interpreter for American forces in Afghanistan. After the U.S. withdrawal in August of 2021, he became a hunted man. Like many in his position, the Taliban considered him a traitor, and without U.S. forces protecting him, his life was in danger.
Shortly after the U.S. withdrawal, he got a call telling him to arrive at the airport with his passport for an evacuation flight. It was a trap, one deployed many times by the Taliban.
Like many Americans and millions around the world, I was watching the events in Afghanistan unfold in horror. I felt helpless. But I decided to do something about it.
I worked with some like-minded individuals to create an organization called EVAC, with the goal of protecting, evacuating, and resettling Afghan allies who had been left behind. None of us are trained aid workers, nor do we have experience in foreign policy or government advocacy. But we couldn’t just sit back and do nothing.
We had been working with Amam for a few weeks when he told us about the evacuation flight and, having seen this play out on multiple occasions, warned him that it was likely a trap. We got Amam a new phone, food and shelter in a safe location, called in every favor we could to advance his SIV application, and eventually got him on a real evacuation flight months later.
He’s now resettled in Sacramento, California, and is helping EVAC save other Afghan allies who are being hunted by the Taliban to this day.
EVAC’s mission is not political. Our goal is not to make a political statement. But when we talk to the Afghan allies that we’ve helped evacuate and resettle and the Afghan families still desperately trying to avoid detection by the Taliban and get to safety, it’s clear that our government and governments around the world have failed them.
The United States relied on thousands of Afghan men and women to support our 20-year mission in that country. We made a promise that we would protect them. We failed to keep that promise.
Over the last year and a half, the stories from Afghanistan have faded from the headlines as other international crises, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and domestic political turmoil dominate the front pages.
But Afghan allies and democracy activists are still living in fear, being hunted by the Taliban, and desperately seeking a way out.
Right now, our organization is working with eight families who, for a variety of reasons, including errors by the U.S. government or their former employers, cannot get SIVs to enter the country.
We’ve developed plans to send these families along an evacuation pathway out of Afghanistan and to Brazil, working with aid organizations on three continents. But time (and money) is short.
Our Afghan allies can’t rely on the U.S. government to help them, nor can they rely on allied governments around the world. The international community has failed them, so it’s on us — individuals with a heart for the friends and allies that stood by us for so many years — to do our part.
We cannot let the passage of time lead to indifference. We need to keep telling their stories. We need to give our time and our resources to help those who helped us.
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Kathryn Chovanes is EVAC's executive director.
